Business bank account fees in Canada compared by fee type, not by headline rate: monthly fees, included transactions, e-Transfer overage, cash deposits, and fee waivers, checked on bank pages in October 2026.
Applies in: across Canada
A business bank account in Canada usually costs between $0 and $7 a month at the entry level. That range tells you very little. The monthly fee is the most advertised number and the least useful one on its own, because banks charge separately for transactions over the included count, for e-Transfers over the included count, for cash deposits, for deposit items, and for paper statements. Two accounts with the same monthly fee can cost $6 and $48 in the same month, depending on how the business actually banks. This guide compares the fee types, using figures checked on each provider's own pages on October 28, 2026. It does not recommend an account and does not repeat the opening steps covered in the companion guides.
At the entry level, the branch-bank monthly fees cluster tightly. BMO's Digital account, the Essential Business Account, is $5 a month with unlimited electronic or ATM transactions, six Interac e-Transfers a month, and unlimited Moneris transactions. RBC Digital Choice is $6 a month with unlimited electronic debits and credits, unlimited electronic cheque deposits, 10 outgoing e-Transfers, and unlimited Moneris deposits. TD Business Digital is $6 a month with unlimited electronic transactions, unlimited deposit items, and 10 e-Transfers included. TD Business Basic is $7 a month with seven transactions and seven deposit items included. CIBC's Basic Business Operating Account is $6 a month on a pay-per-use basis. Scotiabank's Right Size Account for business is $6 a month, also pay-per-use. National Bank's Digital Package is $7 a month with unlimited digital transactions, unlimited cheque deposits, and 12 outgoing e-Transfers.
The digital providers sit below that cluster on monthly fee alone. EQ Bank charges $0 a month with no minimum balance requirement. Venn Essentials charges $0 a month. Wise Business charges no monthly fee; the one-time $55 fee buys local account details for receiving money in 22 currencies, and sending and converting money is charged per transaction from 0.19%. A $0 monthly fee is real for all three, and it is not the whole cost. The sections below show where each one charges instead.
Higher tiers cost much more and include much more. BMO charges $25 for Flexible, $50 for Comprehensive, and $75 for Premium. TD charges $35 for Business Essential and $125 for Business Unlimited. RBC charges $7 for Flex Choice and $100 for Ultimate. CIBC charges $20 or $25 for the Everyday account depending on self-service or full-service access, and $65 for Unlimited. National Bank charges $10 for Hybrid and $100 for Premium. Do not compare a higher tier's monthly fee with an entry tier's: the included counts, cash allowances, and waivers are different products.
This is the fee type that punishes a miscount. TD Business Basic includes seven transactions a month and charges $1.25 for each additional transaction, plus $0.22 for each additional deposit item. At 40 transactions in a month, that account costs $7 plus 33 times $1.25, which is $48.25 before any other charge. TD Business Digital, at $6 with unlimited electronic transactions, costs $6 for the same electronic volume. The $1 difference in monthly fee hides a $42 difference at that volume.
CIBC's Basic account charges $1.00 for each self-service transaction and $1.25 for each full-service transaction, with deposits charged pay per use. Scotiabank's entry accounts are also pay-per-use; the transaction rates sit in its Guide to Fees and Interest Schedules, which this guide did not verify line by line, so no per-transaction figure is quoted for Scotiabank here. RBC's Flex Choice charges $0.75 for each electronic deposit and $1.25 for each paper transaction, while its Digital Choice plan includes unlimited electronic transactions. BMO's Flexible plan charges $0.60 for each electronic transaction over its 35-transaction limit. The rule that follows from every one of these schedules is the same: count your monthly transactions honestly before choosing between a bundled plan and a pay-per-use plan. Under about 10 transactions a month, pay-per-use can win. Over 30, an unlimited-electronic plan usually wins.
E-Transfer overage is the fee most likely to exceed the monthly fee, because sending 40 or 50 transfers a month is normal for a business that pays suppliers or contractors that way. RBC Digital Choice includes 10 outgoing transfers and charges $1.50 each after that, so 50 outgoing transfers cost $6 plus 40 times $1.50, or $66. TD Business Digital includes 10 and charges $1.50 each after that, so the same volume costs $6 plus $60, or $66. EQ Bank includes 50 outgoing and 100 incoming transfers, then charges $0.50 each, so 50 outgoing transfers cost $0. Venn Essentials lists Interac e-Transfer as free. BMO Digital includes six transfers a month; its overage rate was not verified on the overview page checked, so budget for it only after reading BMO's business banking guide. National Bank Digital includes 12 transfers; its overage rate is $1.50 on the Hybrid account page, but the Digital Package page checked did not state an overage rate, so this guide does not apply the Hybrid rate to the Digital plan.
Wise is the exception to the pattern: its business pricing page lists no Interac e-Transfer service. A business that pays Canadian suppliers by e-Transfer should not assume Wise covers that row. Check the current Wise Business features page before treating Wise as a sole account.
Cash is where digital accounts stop being a complete substitute. RBC Digital Choice charges $5.00 per $1,000 for branch cash deposits and $2.25 per $1,000 at an ATM or through Night and Day Deposit. TD charges $2.50 per $1,000. BMO's guide charges $2.50 per $1,000 for cash notes and $0.25 per $100 for coin on most plans. A business depositing $10,000 in cash a month pays $50 at an RBC branch, $25 at a TD branch, or $22.50 at an RBC ATM. Those amounts dwarf the $5 to $7 monthly fees, which is why a cash business should choose on the cash-deposit row first and treat the monthly fee as secondary.
Cheque deposits follow a similar split. RBC Digital Choice includes unlimited electronic cheque deposits. TD Business Digital includes unlimited deposit items, while TD Business Basic includes seven and charges $0.22 for each additional item. CIBC's Everyday account includes 25 cheques in its deposit package, and its Unlimited account includes 100. EQ Bank lists mobile cheque deposit as free, with a $100,000 limit per cheque. Venn and Wise publish no branch cheque-deposit service; their models assume money arrives electronically.
Paper statements are a small, avoidable charge that still appears on several schedules. RBC charges $4.00 for a paper statement without images and $5.00 with images, while electronic statements are free. TD's fee schedule raised its month-end paper statement fee from $3.00 to $5.00 in March 2026. Use electronic statements and this row disappears.
Wire fees were verified for one provider only. Venn Essentials charges $10 per international wire, $8 on Plus, and $6 on Pro. No bank wire fee is quoted in this guide, because none was verified on a bank account page at the time of writing. Do not budget a wire from a comparison article's figure.
Foreign-exchange cost is the largest fee most businesses with United States clients or suppliers will pay, and it is the least visible in account fee tables. Venn publishes its rate: 0.45% on Essentials, 0.35% on Plus, 0.25% on Pro. Wise charges from 0.19% per conversion and does not inflate the mid-market rate. The branch banks do not publish an exchange markup in their account fee tables; the markup is built into the rate quoted at the time of conversion. That means this guide cannot honestly rank bank foreign-exchange cost from the fee tables alone. Ask for the rate on a stated amount, compare it with the mid-market rate at the same time, and record the difference before choosing an account for cross-border work.
Waivers reward large balances, not loyalty. The balances that waive a fee are listed in the FAQ above: $8,000 at Scotiabank for its Basic account, $20,000 at CIBC for Everyday, $35,000 at BMO for Comprehensive, $45,000 at TD for Business Essential, and $65,000 to $80,000 for the top tiers at TD, CIBC, RBC, and National Bank. A business holding $8,000 every day of the month can bank free at Scotiabank's Basic account; a business holding $35,000 can bank free on BMO Comprehensive. Below those balances, the fee applies in full. There is no partial waiver.
Promotions change the first months only. BMO's overview page showed $0 for four months on its Flexible, Comprehensive, and Premium plans, with the normal $25, $50, and $75 monthly fees resuming after the promotional period. Treat any $0 promotional period as a discount with an end date, and confirm the end date and the resuming fee in writing before opening.
The arithmetic below uses only rates verified on provider pages. Each example counts one fee type at a time so the comparison stays readable.
A business with 20 electronic transactions and 10 e-Transfers a month, all electronic, no cash: BMO Digital $5, RBC Digital Choice $6, TD Business Digital $6, EQ Bank $0, Venn Essentials $0. The digital accounts win on price, and the only remaining question is whether the business needs a branch.
A business with 40 transactions and 50 outgoing e-Transfers a month: TD Business Basic costs $48.25 on transactions alone, before e-Transfer charges of $1.50 each on all 50, since none are included on that plan. RBC Digital Choice costs $66 in total. EQ Bank costs $0, because 50 outgoing transfers sit exactly at its free limit. Venn Essentials costs $0 on the e-Transfer row, plus $2 for each EFT if suppliers are paid that way instead.
A business depositing $10,000 cash a month at a branch, with 20 transactions: RBC Digital Choice costs $6 plus $50 in cash-deposit fees. TD Business Digital costs $6 plus $25. The monthly-fee ranking reverses once cash enters the picture, and an account with a cash allowance, such as BMO Flexible with $2,500 included, changes the result again once the allowance is exceeded. Run your own counts through the provider's current schedule; the worked months above are illustrations, not quotes.
| BMO Digital (Essential Business Account) | $5/month |
|---|---|
| RBC Digital Choice Business Account | $6/month |
| TD Business Digital Account | $6/month |
| TD Business Basic Account | $7/month |
| CIBC Basic Business Operating Account | $6/month |
| Scotiabank Right Size Account for business | $6/month |
| National Bank Digital Package | $7/month |
| EQ Bank Business Account | $0/month |
| Venn Essentials | $0/month |
| Wise Business | $0/month, $55 one-time setup for account details |
Fees as published on each provider's own pages and checked October 28, 2026. Included-transaction counts and overage rates differ by account; read the fee-type sections before comparing monthly fees.
There is no single cheapest fee, because the monthly fee is only one of five charges. EQ Bank and Venn charge $0 a month, and Wise charges no monthly fee but a $55 one-time fee for local account details. Among branch banks, BMO's Digital account is $5 a month, RBC Digital Choice and TD Business Digital are $6, and TD Business Basic and National Bank Digital are $7. A $0 account can still cost more in a month when you pay per transfer, and a $6 account with unlimited electronic transactions can cost less than a $7 account that charges $1.25 for each transaction over seven. Compare your own monthly counts against each fee type, not the monthly fee alone.
It depends on how many the plan includes. RBC Digital Choice includes 10 outgoing e-Transfers a month and charges $1.50 for each one after that. TD Business Digital includes 10 and charges $1.50 for each additional transfer. National Bank Digital includes 12; its overage rate was not stated on the package page checked for this guide, so confirm it in National Bank's fee guide before budgeting for it. EQ Bank includes 50 outgoing and 100 incoming e-Transfers a month, then charges $0.50 each. Venn's Essentials plan lists Interac e-Transfer as free. BMO's Digital account includes six a month; the overage rate was not verified on BMO's overview page at the time of writing, so this guide does not quote it.
Cash-deposit pricing is published per $1,000 and varies by channel. RBC Digital Choice charges $5.00 per $1,000 deposited at a branch and $2.25 per $1,000 at an ATM or through Night and Day Deposit. TD charges $2.50 per $1,000 on its Business Digital and Business Basic accounts. BMO's business banking guide charges $2.50 per $1,000 for cash notes deposited. Several plans also include a cash-deposit allowance: BMO's Flexible plan includes $2,500 a month, its Comprehensive plan $4,000, and its Premium plan $25,000. CIBC and Scotiabank cash-deposit rates were not verified on the pages checked for this guide and are not quoted here. If your business takes cash, the cash-deposit row usually matters more than the monthly fee.
On higher-tier plans, yes, and the balances are large. BMO waives the $50 Comprehensive fee at a $35,000 minimum balance and the $75 Premium fee at $75,000. TD waives the $35 Business Essential fee at a $45,000 daily minimum balance and the $125 Business Unlimited fee at $65,000. RBC waives the $100 Ultimate Business Account fee at a $75,000 minimum daily balance. CIBC waives the $65 Unlimited Business Operating Account fee at a $65,000 minimum daily balance and the Everyday account fee at $20,000. Scotiabank waives the $10.95 Basic Business Account monthly fee when the balance stays at or above $8,000 every day of the month. New businesses rarely hold those balances, so treat a waiver as a later benefit, not a starting price.
No. The best-accounts guide ranks accounts and recommends picks for new businesses. This guide compares fee structures only: what each fee type costs, what is included, and what a month costs at a stated volume. It makes no recommendation and does not cover opening steps, documents, or online opening. Where the two guides overlap on a figure, this guide uses the figure checked on the bank's own page on October 28, 2026. One overlap changed: TD's entry plan is now the $7 Business Basic Account with seven transactions included, not the older $5 Basic Business Plan with five. The older figure appears in some published comparisons and should not be used.
Often enough that a fee quoted from a comparison article can be out of date. TD renamed its plans and changed its entry fee effective March 16, 2026. BMO runs limited-time fee offers, including $0 for four months on some plans, after which the normal monthly fee applies. This guide states the fee as published on each provider's page on October 28, 2026, and names the page in Sources. Before opening an account, re-check the provider's current fee schedule or account page, and check whether a promotion is running and when it ends.
Where a fee could not be verified on the provider's own page at the time of writing — BMO's e-Transfer overage rate, National Bank Digital's e-Transfer overage rate, Scotiabank's per-transaction rates, CIBC and Scotiabank cash-deposit rates, and every bank's wire fee and foreign-exchange markup — this guide says so and points to the provider's fee schedule instead of carrying a comparison article's figure. Check the current schedule before opening an account, because banks change these plans, as TD did in March 2026.